Posted on 9th November 2017
The Premier League has announced that it will extend the £30 away ticket price cap, and include a price cap in its rules for the first time, following today’s shareholder meeting.
Beyond the £30 cap: what are Premier League clubs doing?
This is a story from the FSF archive – the FSF and SD merged to become the FSA in 2019.
Is the £30 cap on away ticket prices the end of away fan campaigning in the Premier League or can Premier League clubs do more?
The good news is that many are already going beyond the £30 cap to help their own travelling fans and we’d love to see all clubs getting in on the act – be they Premier League or EFL.
With that in mind we thought it’d be a good idea to find out what initiatives top-flight clubs have created – thanks to the Premier League’s Supporters Services team for sharing that information.
Below you’ll see a table they provided of what every club in the division is doing to assist their own supporters on the road.
There are some excellent initiatives which the clubs should be recognised for. Stoke City providing free coach travel to every league game stands out, as does Watford’s aim to make an away day’s ticket and travel cost no more than £40.
Swansea City have capped all away tickets for members at £20. Twenty’s Plenty as we say.
Reciprocal pricing?
The £30 cap on away tickets in the Premier League replaced what was the “Away Supporters Initiative” – a drive to increase and maintain away attendances in the top flight. Clubs had to set aside budget to address this. Though the £30 cap superseded the initiative, it’s promising that clubs have maintained some of the practices in it.
One such practice is reciprocal pricing – where two clubs agree a discounted rate for both sets of away fans in each corresponding ground. This season Newcastle United and Watford have agreed a reciprocal £25 deal for away supporters attending each fixture.
It’s a simple, effective way of saving a lot of match-going fans a lot of money and something we want to see a lot more of. As ever, supporters are encouraged to lobby their clubs to secure these deals. If you want advice on how to do so, get in touch.
Most clubs provide something, as you’ll see below, in the form of subsidised coach travel, train deals or cheaper match tickets. Of the 20, only three clubs (Burnley, Manchester United and Newcastle United) provide no subsidised club travel.
We’d encourage fan groups to use this information in dialogue with their club to highlight good practice elsewhere and encourage your club to think about bespoke deals for its own fanbase.
